Ramps are great also, just like the other fungus, and other edible plants previously mentioned....... folks should realize if they know what to look for, they can come home with something delicious even when they are not successful finding morels. My son's property has always been a great place to find morels, but sometimes weather and the type of spring will determine if we find only an ice cream pail full all spring or if we have to take the tractor out so we can fill the bucket. Neighbors just across the road find very few o the property and tend to cross the fence when no body's around. Morel hunting around here is like deer hunting. Folks are passionate about it, and guard their honey holes on public land with sealed lips and show them to no-one, even immediate family for fear of loosing them. Like my son's neighbors, folks will risk trespassing fines and life long feuds with their neighbors for just a pound or two of the fungi. I know of many folks that take their yearly vacation in the spring when they think the morels will be up. While they are delicious, they also are worth good money. Local organic store buys all they can get for about $14 a pound depending on supply and quality. If you want to take 'em to a farmer's market yourself, you can get twice that sometimes. Even on my son's property, while the best spots generally produce something most every year, the biggest harvests seem to come from a different spot each year, so you still have to search the whole farm. Sometimes, when the spring is cold and dry, and then warms quickly, you find only a few smaller ones for just a short while. If the spring warms slowly and has regular rain, the season runs longer and the morels can get huge. You'll find the first morels of the year when daytime highs reach the 60s and lows stay above 40 degrees. Frezing night temps or a late frost will not kill them, but "burn" them making them much less desirable. South facing slopes warm first and thus are the best place to find early morels. As the spring warms, you go around the hill where soil temps are just coming up. Again Morels like filtered light, so you generally don't find them out in the open, nor will you find them after the trees leaf out. Old pastures with open areas under scattered trees/shrubs is a good place to look. New pasture and fields where the ground has been disturbed/replanted in recent years not so much.
